'Devil' sheikh preaches moderation and respect

It was always going to be difficult for Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi - declared by the Sun to be a devil - to live up to his billing on his first public appearance in London.

The "devil" turned out to be a sprightly 78-year-old, who rose confidently to the pulpit in the London Central Mosque in Regents Park for Friday prayers yesterday. If the congregation were expecting fire and brimstone, they were disappointed.

The sheikh sidestepped contentious issues, going out of his way to prove wrong all those who would like him expelled, from David Blunkett downwards.

Accused of calling for the killing of Jews, he told how the Prophet Mohammed stood up when a funeral went by. It was not the body of a Muslim, his companions told him, but a Jew, so there was no need to stand. The Prophet replied: "Is he not a human being?"

Related Articles

The sheikh continued: "Every soul has a place of respect in the eyes of Islam."

Human rights and religious tolerance, he declared, were not invented in the European Enlightenment, but by the Caliph Omar, 14 centuries ago. The Caliph famously berated one of his governors who abused the Christians with the words: "Since when do you enslave people whom Allah created free?"

His smooth performance should not be a surprise. He is the consummate television sheikh, with a regular slot on al-Jazeera, the Arabic CNN, answering questions about religion and life.

With his unique mixture of progressive and fundamentalist views, he is good box office, guaranteed to get up the noses of half of his audience while still annoying the Americans.

He has pronounced on the legitimacy of suicide bombers (yes against Israelis, who are better armed than Palestinians, not against anyone else) and the place of Pokemon in Muslim life (banned, because the little monsters appear to endorse Darwinism). Homosexuality, he is alleged to believe, is a disease and its sufferers should face the death penalty to keep society pure.

Yesterday he was in full-throttle moderate mode, his theme being the need for Muslims in Britain to play a positive role in society, earning respect for their religion from the example they set. He had no time for those who said Britain was a racist state and that it was acceptable to milk the benefits system.

This was too much for one robed and bearded youth, who stood up in the packed prayer hall and started heckling the preacher. He was forcibly removed.

His tone rising somewhat, the sheikh finally addressed what he called "the venomous media campaign" against him in Britain. If they wanted to know the truth, he said, his critics should study his 140 books, hundreds of sermons and scores of television programmes. "I have no bullets with me, only my tongue and my pen."

His message of acceptance of living in non-Muslim society failed to set the congregation alight. As an aide read out an English translation of his Arabic sermon, the cry went up "Salat, salat" - prayer, prayer. They were keen to cut the talk, finish the prayers and go home.

In the courtyard, one or two complained that the famous sheikh had provided so little encouragement for the angry youths who rail at British society.

Outside the gates, one young man dismissed the message of tolerance and co-existence. "Britain will become Muslim, you will see. It's already happening. There are thousands of converts." An angry bearded man harangued the crowd with a tabloid newspaper in his hand saying there would never be justice in Britain.

Dr Abdel-Rahman Desouky, a consultant ENT surgeon from Maidstone, Kent, was at a loss to understand what all the fuss was about. "You could not find a more moderate preacher in all the Arab world," he said. His wife, Khairia, said: "In Egypt many people think he is far too moderate."

To anyone listening to the sheikh, he was the opposite of a rabble-rouser. He may have unacceptable views on gays and the disciplining of women, but he knows his audience.

• Alan Philps, who speaks Arabic, was The Daily Telegraph's Middle East Correspondent from 1998 to 2003